The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has stated that Rivers State will not break down if the Rivers State House of Assembly decides to impeach the governor, Siminalayi Fubara, amid the ongoing political crisis.
At a media interaction in Abuja on Wednesday, Wike said there is nothing wrong if the lawmakers decide to sack Fubara for alleged impeachable offences including withholding their salaries for months.
Wike, partly in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and partly in the All Progressives Congress, said, “If you have committed an offence to be impeached, what’s wrong? Is it a criminal offence? It’s provided in the constitution. Am I a member of the Assembly?
“If you have committed an infraction of the constitution and the Assembly deems it fit to say, you should be impeached.
“I have heard people say: ‘Oh, if they impeach him, there will be a breakdown of law and order’. Rubbish. Nothing will happen.”
Wike, who has been locked in a political face-off with Fubara for months, in an interview with TVC, argued that some judges mislead politicians into thinking they have a strong case, only for them to lose in court.
“If you win, they say the judges collected money. Meanwhile, no compensation was given. I know what I know. Now, if they don’t win, they go by the same way, it will be difficult for us to go and collect the money back. Because let people not know that we paid the bribe. So, whichever way,” Wike stated.
He further suggested that Fubara had been given false hope ahead of a Supreme Court ruling, implying that the Rivers governor had been deceived into believing he had a guaranteed victory.
“Simply because judicial merchants have told you, you will win. And that’s why I pity judges and justices,” he said.
Wike also criticised Fubara’s leadership style, accusing him of acting with arrogance due to access to state resources.
“Fubara has the temerity, the audacity, because he has money from the FAAC, because he has money from the IGR, to enter my family to remove a chief and make another person chief,” Wike stated.
He downplayed efforts to resolve their political rift, asserting that peace cannot be forced and accusing Fubara’s camp of attempting to intimidate their way out of the crisis.
“If the assembly thinks that he (Fubara) committed infraction and he knows he committed you find peace it’s not by gra-gra it’s not by threatening glory,” he added.
The former Rivers governor maintained that he remains loyal to President Bola Tinubu and would continue to support him regardless of political pressures.
“Even if you tell me I have to support who is the one who is in the battle of who, I am the one that will champion Mr. President. I’m also doing it. You don’t preach that one to me,” Wike declared.
The feud between Wike and Fubara, which began shortly after the latter took office, has led to a divided political landscape in Rivers State. With accusations of judicial manipulation, interference in governance, and personal grievances, the crisis shows no signs of resolution.
